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Post-Election; Why is Voting such a challenge?

Well the 2020 election has, or is, concluding, and again we have serious questions surrounding the tools used to vote and ultimately the results. However, with all the unfortunate divide in this country, we had the biggest turn out in over 100 years; 66%, and the highest number of popular votes ever. Maybe these are good numbers, but to me it seems shameful that 34% of our "citizens" did not vote, and let's remember that's a record high in over a century so normally even less fulfill their civic duty, which seems a real shame to me!!!


To the topic at hand, the challenge of voting. First off I see mail in ballots as a problem for all but the civil servants or military stationed or working abroad. There is just no good way to assure these ballots are genuine and thus valid. Using a signature is a joke without significant advancements in the technology used to validate the signature. Even then, what signature is it compared too-it would be easy for any person to sign and use any name on a registration and then repeat the same signature on a ballot. Will they match; of course - does it mean that person is a US citizen and is legally allowed to vote; well that's the question, and just one that challenges the use of mail-in ballots.


Then there's the states. OK - I see you dissenters about to explode. Yes, In Article I Section 4, the Constitution says: The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations. Why should voting rules differ from one state to another - this is crazy to me. We all want every legal citizens vote to count once; with this there is no debate. Yet the way the states differ in their rules, they could unintentionally exclude some, and open the door for others who are either not legally allowed or even worse, others who have already voted once, or twice, or - you get the picture. After all, the old-adage about voting in Chicago was: "Vote early and vote often:)."


We have had the technology for years now to solve this issue. It seems to be that every day I have to put my finger on my phone for it to read my fingerprint or stare into my computer or tablet screen for it to use my facial features to identify me. Why can't this technology be used in voting??? Some have said the cost is prohibitive - nonsense. With the money we waste on political conventions, vote processing with numerous different types of software and machines, and the eventual recounts...EVERY ELECTION...we could easily fund this technology to be implemented once, and then only updated as needed. And, let's take the election "function" and tallying out of the states hands and establish one national policy and practice. You can still have the state run election boards to manage the logistics, candidate structures, etc. but let's use one system, in every state, that matches every citizen to every vote, using technology.


As they say, I don't feel I'm the sharpest tool in the tools shed, but this seems to be a simple no-brainer to me. Politicians will still be politicians, and they'll still bury us every election season with their biased ads, and their debates will continue to tell us nothing about their truly policies, strategies, and beliefs, but we will have simple, honest, factual, and efficient voting WE CAN TRUST. The crazy systems we have now, just lead to disdain, frustration, and the inevitable conspiracy theories, and while many of us love to involve ourselves in these water cooler conversations, we desperately need elections that are factual, accurate, and FINAL.





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